Abstract: Sociological research has found that personal names can trigger individuals'  stereotypes. For example, people often associate“Jianguo”with the 1950s. Do consumers project stereotypes about birth years onto brands containing these names?  Does perceived brand age further influence consumers' preferences for the corresponding brands? Therefore, this paper explores in detail the underlying mechanism of how brand age cues(popular personal names) affect consumers'  perception of brand age and brand preferences through five sub-studies. The results show that consumers are indeed influenced by stereotypes about the birth years of popular personal names when purchasing everyday goods. Consumers generally have more positive preferences for brands perceived to be older, and this effect diminishes when the objective age of the enterprise is known. Compared to modern products, traditional products named after older personal names bring consumers higher perceived competence and warmth. In addition, brands named after older personal names have positive influence on consumers with lower innovativeness, but this conclusion does not hold for consumers with higher innovativeness. The research findings can provide theoretical insights and practical reference for companies in making decisions on brand naming and brand extension. 

Key words: brand naming, age cues, stereotype, perceived brand longevity, brand preference